Fender American Thin Skin Roasted Telecaster Bass

[gigetto]

There are no basses for a genre, there are bassist who think this bass is indicated for a genre of music.

 

[Tom P]

Old thread I know, but for those of you who have purchase one, what do you think?
Fit/finish, playability, tone?

I have had mine for about 4 months now and I love it. I am picky about my preferences in a bass and this one hits on all the points. Low action, perfect intonation, very easy to play, a perfect setup from Wildwood. The components are top shelf. There is an updated higher mass bridge with modern adjustment capabilities, great sounding pickups and a clever volume and tone setup. The bridge pickup is placed slightly closer to the neck and you get a much more useful tone, not that thin nasal lightweight sound. It has a comfortable neck width and shoulder saving weight just under 8lbs. I really like the roasted look and have no issue with the Tele body shape. A+ in my book.

 

[marqueemoon]

Love the overall look, but I also dislike P/J pickup setups.

I recently cobbled together a roasted ash body/roasted maple neck Jazzmaster (guitar). It's very light, resonant, and stable. I'm a believer.

 

[deff]

I think it is a good looking bass.

Marketing instruments to one genre of music when they can be used for any genre is what makes their marketing awful. It's a silly mistake that severely limits them.

And it's not even remotely true. But sure. If you care about stuff like that. The fact is, it is a very similar look that Schecter aped from Fender and put their spin on it. Wildwood played into the whole nitro will breath thing that is actually more of an insult than marketing to an audience.

Honestly I love the look of the bass personally. I'm not sure that torrefied wood is a significant improvement in design, but it looks cool and matches the body nicely.

 

[Shadi]

If it was a real Telecaster bass with a single coil, I'd be interested.

 

[Tom P]

It is a real Telecaster bass, with a PJ configuration.

 

[Longwheelbass]

If it wasn't PJ, it had a 7-1/4" radius, and skinny frets, I *would* be getting one. I'd just like a straight roasted '51 reissue, really. I'd be all over the Wildwood Thin Skins if they simply had reissue specs in terms of necks/frets.

Bingo - this bass sounds pretty much like every other modernized cheaper "P/J" thing that Fender makes in all of it's foreign factories for a quarter the price. The split P pickups in this body look awful and then they went and jammed a Jazz pickup in it too. I do not understand the desire to jam two sets of pickups into a silhouette that has always been so elegant and tonally amazing with the plain old single coil. This bass would/should have just had a bent metal bridge and a good old plain enamel wound single coil and it would have looked stunning and sounded sweet. And flown out the door.

 

[bluesblaster]

They got the whole P/J thing backwards in my opinion, the single coil should be in the neck position, makes for a much better sound. Even my Jazz basses I often dial back the rear PU, I think it just sounds better that way. I run both wide open a lot too but unless I want to sound like Jaco I hardly ever do it the other way around.

Yes, its too bad they had to take something with potential and put the same old boring electronics package into it. But, hey ... I guess its what we've come to expect

 

[RussT]

This thing looks badass. Lots of cool features in an american fender.

 

[bobyoung53]

If it was a real Telecaster bass with a single coil, I'd be interested.

Exactly, every time I see a Tele bass with a split pickup I just shake my head, if Fender made a nice American Tele to original specs or even one that even had another single coil at the bridge then I'd definitely be interested. I like P/J basses and own two but this bass should have a single coil (or two). To me the pickup(s) are the heart of the bass.